Improvement in adjustable stocks of fire-arms



C. W. JONES.

Grun Stock. No 56 506 Patented July 17, 1866.

' NITED STATES PATENT OFFICEo CHARLES WILLIAM JONES, OF GHELTENHAM, ENGLAND.

IMPROVEMENT IN ADJUSTABLE STOCKS OF FIRE-ARMS.

Specification forming part of LettersmPatent N0. 56,506, dated July l?, 1866.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES WILLIAM JONES, of Cheltenham, in the county of Gloueester and Kingdom of England, gentleman, a subject of the Grown of Great Britain, have invented Improvements in Fire-Arms; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description of my said inventionthat is to say:

My invention consists of certain improvements in rides and other arms of precision adapted for long ranges, the object of which improvements is to preserve through all the ranges, from the shortest to the longest, the normal or natural and easy position which is taken up by the shooter at the shortest range.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a portion of the stock of a rifle, showing in dotted lines the motions of the various parts; Fig. 2, an end elevation of the heel of the stock.

I will now proceed to describe my invention with the aid of these drawings.

The stock of the arm is twice out: first, in a longitudinal direction through the upper part of the cheek-piece from the heel to the waist or gripe, and again transversely through an arc struck from the center of a hinge, (hereinafter more particularly alluded to,) commencing at the extreme end of the butt at the top and extending downward to its under side. The butt of the stock is thus severed into three parts, as shown at a, b c. I connect a and b at the waist or gripe by means of a strong hinge furnished with a shifting pin or bolt, if necessary, so that the hinge may be disjointed at pleasure. The upper strap of this hinge is extended the length of the stock to the heel, being conntersunk into the lower edge of the upper part of the stock a, and to the extremity of this upper strap is attached a toothed quadrant-blade, e, the curve of this blade corresponding to the curve of the end of the parti), and being struck from the center ofthe knuckle of the hinge d. The part b is grooved out to admit of the quadrant-blade e working freely up and down in the stock when actuated by the screwpin f, the'worrn of which, engaging in the teeth in the blade e as the pin is turned by the nger and thumb applied to the thumb-piece f raises or lowers the blade c, and with it the portion a of the butt upon the center or hinge d.

The curved end or heel ofthe part I) is covered with a plate slotted to correspond with the groove in the heel, as seen in Fig. .2, and the triangular part c is fitted with a doubleheel-plate ground to work smoothly upon the end of the part b. This heel-plate, so fitted, is aflixed to the part a, at the top, and to the toothed quadrantblade e at or near its lower end.

The three parts a b c being thus united, it follows that by turning the screw-pin fthe part a will be raised at its butt-end, and the entire heel of the stock will rise upon the een ter fo-rmed b`y the hinge a, and will remain elevated at any required angle, as shown in dotted lines, and thus the stock may be more or less straightened at will. But although the stock may now have been so straightened as to admit of its being brought down upon the shoulder, the cheekpiece will nevertheless have acquired an undue `Obliquity, and will be far too low at its front to afford rest for the cheek. To correct this a movable cheekpiece, g, is bent over the stock and hinged upon the top of the heel-plate, and this cheekpiece is worked by Vmeans of a lever-plate, Z, pinned or hinged, as at l', in the lower strap of the main hinge, which is slotted to receive it, and toward the heel, and passing obliquely through the part a to its upper edge, where it is again pinned to a bolt, m, which works in a slotted tube, m', formed on the end of a dat rod, m, upon which the cheek-piece g is secured, and which rod m is hinged on the top of the heel-plate. The leverl is slotted, as at n, from the point wh'ere it passes through the upper strap of the main hinge when shut to the point where it passes through the saine strap when open, at the time when the bolt m is thrown back in its tube m sufficiently to raise the cheek-piece to a parallel position.

A pin, nf, is passed through the edge of the hinge-strap and the slot in the lever-plate l, so that upon opening or shutting the hinge the pin fn, working in the slot of the lever l, raises or depresses it, as the case may be, and simultaneously works the bolt m backward and forward in its tube m', raising or depressing the cheek-piece g in a corresponding ratio with the heel of the stock. Thus the cheekpiece is always maintained in a parallel positien.

So Ucnstructed the stock presents a double parallel actinn: first, by means of the hinge at the Waist or gripe the heel is raised, and, secondly7 by means of the hinge on the top of the heel the cheek-piece is raised, both motions being made in unison and by the mere turning of the screw-pin f by the thumbpiece j".

rlhe short arm or lever p, which is attached to the VYknuckle of the main hinge d, is designed to receive an orthoptic or telescopic baclsigl1t, which may be formed upon or attached to it.

Having thus described the nature of my said invent-ion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I do not contine myself to these exact details, as I am aware they will admit of' considerable variation without departing from the principle of my invention; but

That which I claim isl. Dividing` the butt of the arm in such manner and so combining` and connecting the parts together by suitable mechanism that a double and simultaneous motion of the parts of the butt is obtained at will, the one action causing an extension of the heel, straightening the stock, and thus allowing the butt to rest against the shoulder, the other motion extending a cheek-piece to form an efficient rest for the cheek in the altered form of the butt, in manner more fully described herein7 and illustrated in Figs. l and 2.

2. The lever-arm p, designed to receive an orthoptic or telescopic back-sight.

The above specification of my invention signed by me this '12th day of April7 A. D. 1866.

CHARLES WILLIAM JONES.

Witnesses:

ELIHU BURRITT, EDWARD J. PAYNE. 

